Thorne Manor
The Thorne Manor in Bregate was an estate erected not long after the construction of Castle Bruckstone in the early 8th century and the titling of Erik Thorne as Baron of Wallow. Erik's granddaughter, Malia Thorne, by his bastard son Martel Thorne married the King of Bregate, Islwyn II. Martel's grandson, Caden Thorne, son of Norbert Thorne, was the nephew of King Aeron Gardner and royal steward. After the orc occupation of Bregate and the formation of King Aeron's Dark Pact, House Gardner fell from virtue and from power, and Lord-Regent Caron of House Cyrill established himself as ruler of Bregate. From the Thorne Manor, Caden Thorne swore an oath to Dispater and arranged the discovery and rise to power of Aeron II, who assassinated the Lord Regent and declared himself rightful king. Caden constructed an underground Infernal Pact depot, including a Chapel of Dispater, for his diabolist allies and connected it to a nearby tunnel to the Underdark. He carved the Nine-Pointed Star upon the floor of his study and designed a secret door leading to the depths below. Thorne Manor continued to serve the Infernal Pact as its headquarters in the district of Highcrest until Lothar Thorne's death in the Conquest, which saw a quieting of Infernal Pact activity in the Bregatian nobility. After Gothian's Rebellion, which saw a long resurgence in Bregatian nationalism that lasted until the fall of Noslith, and the death of Malfeas Blackthorne, House Thorne rarely practiced diabolism. By 5E.1521, when Farquhar Thorne renewed his family's oath to Dispater, the Thorne Manor had fallen into disrepair while the dungeons beneath it had not been inhabited for some 200 years. Only the grounds were kept, while the castle itself had eroded with time. The gloomy estate in Highcrest had become the preferred home of House Thorne after the plague's return, and Baron Trefor Thorne lived here with his guards, son, and daughter. The Heroes of Blackbridge traveled to Bregate in that same year and discovered the crimes of Farquhar Thorne after infiltrating his study and persuading his father to allow them a look around the estate. By then, the ancient study was dusty and untouched for years, filled with old grimoires and tomes relating the various histories and biographies of House Thorne, Wallow, Bregate, and its personas. There, Farquhar Thorne discovered his family's ancient history, and there, the Heroes of Blackbridge accessed the Chapel of Dispater, finding nine sconces at the nine points of the study's floor design marked individually with runes in clockwise order: RIDIEBAEL. Peredur Gower flipped through an old Bregatian tome and noticed the word DIABLERIE associated with a king of House Gardner; pulling the sconces in that order, the door thus opened, revealing a massive hole leading into the depths of the estate. Below the estate, the adventurers fought through a great prison, a dining hall, its kitchens, storage, and servants' chambers; they also found its guard barracks, where the acolytes and soldiers of Farquhar rested, and Farquhar's own secret, lush bedchambers. The result of the battle was the fall and death of Farquhar Thorne and his companions, along with the fall and death of Rogar Magrimgun and his own duergar slave trader companions; the Heroes of Blackbridge were also able to rescue Aeron Cyrill, four others, and were able to learn more about Dulcinea's fate. The maiden was imprisoned beneath the Thorne Manor for a short time, after which she was stolen away by a dark cowled woman - truthfully Tegwen the Enchantress, as previously arranged by Lord Prelate Balder himself.